eastman



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. EASTMAN. CEILING AND FLOOR CONSTRUCTION.

NO. 668,266. "Patented Apr. 14, 1896.

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(N0 Mpdel.)

J. EASTMAN. GEILING AND FLOOR CONSTRUCTION.

. Patented Apr. 14, 1896.

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ANDREW a GRAHAM. vumo-umuwAsmrm-mmnc UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH EASTMAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE LIGHT FIRE- PROOFING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

CEILING AND FLOOR CONSTRUCTION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 558,266, dated April 14, 1896. Application filed October 31, 18I35. Serial No. 567,514. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH EASTMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Ceiling and Floor Construction, of which the following is a specification.

The primary object of my invention is to enable the plaster-work for the ceilings of rooms in buildings to be performed by a filling-in process from the room or space above,

' thereby greatly expediting and cheapening the operation besides enabling, through the employment of media attached to the floorbeams for holding the plastic material, better bonding of the latter and bracing of the beams than by the old method of ceiling and floor construction, and thus affording a stronger ceiling structure, the concrete or other plastic material of which, not being applied in coats or layers, will not tend to stratify under the influence of fire or frost.

Another object of my invention is to enable the floor structure above the ceiling to be made or laid from the previously-formed ceiling structure, using the latter as a working platform.

I supplement the description of my invention hereinafter contained by the'acoompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a broken top plan view of a ceiling constructed inaccordance with my improvement; Fig. 2, a broken section taken at the line 2 on Fig. 1 and viewed in the direction of the arrow; Fig. 3, a broken section taken at the line 3 on Fig. 1 and viewed in the direction of the arrow; Fig. 4, a section taken at the line 4: on Fig. 3, viewed in the direction of the arrow and enlarged; Fig. 5, a section taken at the line 5 on Fig. 6 and viewed in the direction of the arrow, and Fig. 6 a broken top plan view of my preferred floor structure.

A A in Fig. 1 denote walls of a building, in which are extended in suitable locations the floor-beams B, represented in the drawings as the ordinary metal I-beams, though they may be of other form or ordinary wooden floor-beams for utilization in applying my improvement. At intervals of about a foot apart, more or less, I fasten to the beams 13, to extend transversely thereof across their bases, bars C, preferably of metal, and of the channeled or angle-bar variety, the form shown involving two fiat parallel sides connected by a third side presenting concavoconvex surfaces to afford a better hold to the cement (mortar, concrete or the like) applied thereto in the manner hereinafter described.

For fastening the bars C to the floor-beams I employ suitable clips or clamps according to the forms of the floor-beams and bars. Thus for the forms thereof shown I use the clip D illustrated, comprising a piece of flat metal 0 containing a T-shaped slot q, adapted to be slipped, at the head portion of the T, upon a side of the bar C and to receive in its stem portion a wedge-shaped key 19. This clip is applied wherever a bar C crosses a floor-beam in a manner to cause the lower flange of the latter to be engaged by the key 19, whereby driving the key tightens the bar in its suspended relation to the floor-beam. When the bars C have been thus placed, I string from one to'the other, at suitable intervals, wires 21), as by winding them about the bars and stretching them from one to the other thereof, as indicated, These wires are not represented in Fig. 6, as they would tend therein to confuse. After so stringing the wires I erect a temporary and readily-removable ceiling E, preferably of wood, below the plane of the wires w, the ceiling being most conveniently supported on suitable horses F, and then I fill in from above upon the temporary ceiling, preferaby above the level of the bases of the beams B, suitable plastic material G, such as concrete, mortar, or the the like. When this plastic material has set sufliciently, the temporary ceiling E may be removed, leaving the permanent even ceiling afforded by the filling.

Before or after removal of the temporary ceiling I lay a floor, as a tile floor or, and preferably, a floor H of the construction here- 5 inafter described, utilizing the preparatorilyconstructed ceiling as a platform for the workmen. The fioor H comprises slabs I, molded out of suitable plastic material, such as concrete, and provided to extend from floor-beam Ioo to floor-beam at proper intervals, say one foot apart, and in these slabs I are preferably embedded arched metal bars I. The slabs may be ribs, arched, as indicated by the dotted line a: in Fig. 3, and they may be molded in place by placing boards the desired distance apart to extend between the floor-beams and utilizing them as molds by filling the space between them with the material of which the slabs are formed, the arched bars I being either preliminarily placed in the molds to rest at their ends in the adjacent flanges of the I-beams B (if the floor-beams be of that variety) or forced into the plastic material before it sets. The height to which the slabs I extend should be below the tops of the floor-beams, Between the slabs I are inserted, to extend at right angles thereto and preferably about a feet apart, rectangular-shaped slabs 1 formed preferably of the same plastic material as that of which the slabs I are formed, and these slabs I may be molded in place, or they may be finished articles and be inserted into position between the slabs I. The slabs I may, if desired, be mere bracing-ribs, fitting between the slabs or ribs I, when they would be mere Oblong blocks, say about two inches square in crosssection. Over the tops of the intersecting slabs I then stretch some suitable covering, preferably wirenetting K of the kind commonly used for lathing, stapling it to the slabs and allowing it, by preference, to sag, as indicated in Fig. 5, in the spaces between the slabs, and upon this covering I apply a desired thickness of concrete or other suitable plastic material, which should extend to the upper surfaces of the floor-beams.

\Vliile I show the covering K in the drawings as extending between the beams, it is sometimes desirable, particularly if the slabs be omitted, to extend it over the beams for the sake of the additional. strength thereby afforded, and it is within my invention so to extend the covering over the beams.

The construction thus described of the ceiling is expeditious and comparatively cheap and renders it particularly strong, the concrete bonding firmly together the angle-bars C, besides greatly facilitating the fioor construction, and when the floor beams are wooden my improvement dispenses with the usually employed bridging between them and avoids the necessity for sizing them.

That I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The ceiling construction comprising, in combination with floor-beams, bars extending at intervals across the bases of the fioorbeams,- and fastened thereto, wires strung across the bars and a filling of concrete, or

the like, embedding said bars and wires, substantially as described.

2. The ceiling construction comprising, in combination with I-beams, angle-bars G extending at intervals across the bases of said beams,clips D connecting said angle-bars, and a filling of concrete, or the like, embedding said angle-bars, substantially as described.

S. The ceiling and floor construction comprising, in combination with the floor-beams, bars extending at intervals across the bases of the floor-beams and fastened thereto, a filling of concrete, or the like, embedding said bars, a covering K and a filling II of concrete, or the like, upon said covering, substantially as described.

4. The ceiling and floor construction comprising, in combination with the floonbeams, bars extending at intervals across the bases of the floor-beams and fastened thereto, a filling of concrete, or the like, embedding said bars, slabs I extending at intervals between the floor-beams, a covering K extending over the slabs, and a filling of concrete, or the like, upon said covering, substantially as described.

5. The ceiling construction comprising in combination with floor-beams, bars extendin g at intervals across the bases of the floor-beams and fastened thereto, and a filling of concrete, or the like, embedding said bars, substantially as described.

6. The ceiling and floor construction comprising, in combination with the floor-beams, bars extending at intervals across the bases of the fioor beams, and fastened thereto, wires strung across the bars, a filling of concrete, or the like, embedding said bars and wires, slabs I extending at intervals between the floor-beams, a covering K en'tendingover the slabs and a filling II of concrete, or the like, upon said covering, substantially as described.

7. The ceiling and floor construction co1nprising, in combination with the floor-beams, bars extending at intervals across the bases of the floor-beams and fastened thereto, wires strung across the bars, a filling G of concrete or the like, embedding said bars and wires,

' slabs I having embedded in them the arched bars I and extending at intervals between the floor-beams, slabs I extendin g at intervals between the slabs I, a covering K extending over the slabs, and a filling II of concrete, or the like, upon said covering, substantially as described.

JOSEPH EASTMAN. In presence of M. J. Fnosr, J. H. LEE. 

